Contents

Overview

Despite the Grand Theft Auto games being set in large, bustling urban environments with public transport infrastructure, the Bus is one of the series' rarest vehicles. The Bus rarely spawns on the street and is usually very difficult to find by other means too.

GTA 1 — GTA 2

In GTA 1, the Bus is based on a typical school bus and has no special features. There are three versions; in Liberty City it is a school bus, in San Andreas it appears to be a church bus, and in Vice City it appears to be either a high school bus or a bus for some kind of sports team; the latter two are not spawned in traffic.

In GTA 2, the Bus resembles an "old look"-style transit bus and can be found picking up/dropping off passengers at various bus stops within each of the three districts. The Bus only drives on the outer lane of the 'main' roads. Even if the player steals the Bus, passengers will still enter/exit if the player stops at a bus stop. There's 2 missions about transporting passengers.

GTA III — GTA Liberty City Stories

In GTA III, GTA Vice City, and GTA Liberty City Stories the Bus retains the "school bus" design featured in GTA 1, and comes in several colors. The design is very generic and takes styling from a wide range of decades, the hood's shape resembles an 1980s International Harvester S-Series; its slanted side windows may be inspired by the old GM New Look Bus or Flxible New Look bus; the rear is rounded similar to most '40s and '50s bus designs. It's possible transport passengers with a bus in Vice City, but that's done with the Coach.

In GTA San Andreas the bus takes on a different appearance, resembling an ordinary city bus. Like the Coach, it can carry the driver and seven passengers. It appears to be based on an MCI MC-8 or MC-9.

GTA IV — GTA Chinatown Wars

In GTA IV, the Brute Bus resembles an Orion V CNG (with an evenly angled windshield). Its slanted side windows resemble those of the old GM New Look Bus(GM TDH-5303), TMC RTS, or the Flxible New Look bus, although they are more modern in style. Strangely, the Bus only allows 4 passengers (in addition to the driver) to travel in the vehicle although, as there is no occasion for this in GTA IV's story, it is only possible during multiplayer. The buses, which fall under the management of Liberty City Transport Authority (LTA), are further stamped with "The Fox" labels, in line with the LTA's association of the Liberty City's tramway with another animal ("The Pigeon").

The Bus remains a rare sight in the city. Despite the presence of several bus stops around the city, the Bus is commonly seen only on the roads near Francis International Airport, and parked in Star Junction. The Bus will sometimes appear during GTA IV's mission chase sequences as part of set pieces, acting as an obstacle to increase the difficulty of the mission (see, for example, Brucie's mission Search and Delete). There is always one or more buses parked at the helitour bus stop.

Another place to find a Bus is the Broker Bus Terminal between Schottler and Downtown. It is located under Algonquin Bridge. It is the first exit from Algonquin and an immediate left at the exit.

The Bus finds its own perfect purpose during GTA Races set in Star Junction. The Bus can easily block off a path while a novice picks off cars, driver by driver, resulting in everyone switching to Faggios, which provide no cover whatsoever for the rider and cannot move buses at all, but are nimble enough to move around Buses.

Performance

GTA III — GTA Liberty City Stories

The Bus' handling is slow and cumbersome, as one would expect, and the vehicle, although fairly tough, cannot readily knock other vehicles aside in the manner of the Fire Truck, Barracks OL, or the Flatbed. The Bus in GTA San Andreas is an exception because the bus's handling is better than similar vehicles of it's size, most probably due to it's lighter weight.

It is also more vulnerable to bullet damage than most vehicles of its size. Like the coach, it can carry up to a maximum of 7 passengers in GTA San Andreas.

GTA IV — GTA Chinatown Wars

For GTA IV, handling is below average, with the Bus easily understeering around corners. Top speed is however somewhat excellent thanks in part to its supercharged 5000cc 6-cylinder engine, but is let down by poor acceleration which is one of the worst in the game. The Bus has a soft suspension tune making the bus somewhat comfortable, especially at low speeds. The Bus is let down again by its poor brakes which tend to lock up easily, and when they do, stopping distance is increased, giving the Bus a poor stopping distance.

Due to its rear-engined configuration, the Bus can survive seemingly endless head-on crashes with cars, trucks, and buildings alike. This makes it the perfect vehicle for ramming cars out of one's path. Like previous renditions of the Bus, however, it is particularly vulnerable to gunfire.

Performance of the Bus in GTA Chinatown Wars is no different, with the Bus capable of only low top speeds, average acceleration, very wide turning radius' and poor brakes, making the Bus impractical for demanding uses. One will get busted very easily if on a Bus, due to its slow acceleration.

There is actually a "Bus Driver" character model and in the GTA IV game files. This suggests that buses were going to be used as a way of transportation around the city, but that this feature was later cut from the final game for unknown reasons.

As with several other vehicles capable of laying sideways, if one flips the bus onto its left hand side and begins to reverse whilst turning slightly to the left the Bus will begin to rotate at very high speeds. If one points the left stick towards the bottom and still to the left the Bus will rotate in the opposite direction. Most vehicles that can stay on its side can do this too.

In Grand Theft Auto IV, the passengers are actually shown walking and taking a seat inside the Bus, since the windows aren't tinted or opaque.

There is always a Bus available in Star Junction, Also by the Helitours base and if you steal the bus, you will be wanted by the police.

Although there are two doors on the Bus, one for alighting and exiting the bus, only one door (the door at the front parallel to the driver) is used.

The layout of the bus resembles the bus from the 1994 action-thriller film Speed. On YouTube, there have been many videos parodying the Speed trailer, consisting of only clips of the bus smashing through traffic and doing the Stunt Jump on the unfinished bridge in Bohan, ending with an explosion (by cooking a grenade in the bus and not throwing it).

Only one person can exit or board the Bus at one time, making escaping the police with more than one person accompanying the protagonist more difficult.

It is not possible to bail out of a moving Bus as the driver in GTA IV, as hitting the exit vehicle button will apply the brakes first.

If more than one person enters the Bus as a passenger, strangely one of the back doors will open.

Unlike other Buses in previous GTA games, in GTA IV, it can enter Pay 'n' Spray, the bus can be re-sprayed only at the Pay 'n' Spray in Leftwood and on Tulsa St. in Hove Beach (other Pay 'n' spray garages are too small for the Bus).

In the mission Bleed Out, if you destroy Roman's cab when you get off the bus then walk around the corner from Roman's garage to the entrance to the Broker Navy Yard, you may be lucky enough to find a bus with four passengers stopped at the traffic lights, the bus will have the same livery as the bus you got off.

All Buses in GTA IV are strangly numbered "B84" and blinded for "Liberty City" instead of "Not in Service" which is what it should be. "B84" is on the front, however at the back, the blind is blank.

There is a sign on the back of the Bus that says that safety is the LTA's number one concern and to call 555-783-9828 to tell them how their drivers are doing. But if the player dials and calls the number, they will only get a no answer tone.

There is an easter egg on the GTA IV bus that has a small ribbon which says "Here, There, Everywhere" which is a nod to the Beatles' song "Here, There, and Everywhere."

Along with the Tug and BMX, the Bus is one of the three shortest-named vehicles in the Grand Theft Auto series.

In GTA SA The Coach cockpit window is tinted ( so the player can't see inside ) but the cockpit window at bus is transparent making the player can see Carl driving the bus.

In GTA IV, the player cannot get inside the bus while drunk. This is likely due to a bug.

Can occasionally be seen driving along the unnamed ring road at Francis International Airport in Dukes, and can often be seen driving around the Airport complex, just south of the Runways. This is the only place where the buses are seen driving instead of parked (with the exception of triggered buses in missions).